MEMBER DIARY

The Mayor of Davenport, Iowa, Bill Gluba is openly asking the Obama administration to send some of the tens of thousands of illegal immigrant “unaccompanied” minors currently flooding into the Southern border his way.

Davenport Mayor Bill Gluba hopes the Quad Cities will play a role in helping care for immigrant children held on the U.S.-Mexico border.

Monday, Gluba told News 8 that he reached out to the White House, offering the Quad Cities’ help to house and care for some of those children. He said the Department of Health and Human Services then sent him information about creating a temporary placement facility in the area.

“We are a welcoming country, and I said, ‘Something’s got to be done about it. Let’s start the process,’” said Gluba.

Gluba is now pulling together a team of representatives from area hospitals, schools, charities and churches. Monday, the group met for the first time at City Hall to discuss what they could do.

Thankfully city council members in Davenport are standing up to the Mayor’s offer to bring more illegals to the Midwest.

As Davenport Mayor Bill Gluba continues to meet with local organizations about the possibility of temporarily housing undocumented immigrant children in existing facilities in Davenport, several city council members have grown even more concerned. Aldermen approved a motion on Wednesday to keep city tax dollars and staff resources out of Mayor Gluba’s Caring Cities Campaign.

“Every one of my colleagues have had dozens of emails phone calls, and I think it was very important for this city council to get out in front and say look this is not a city council action,” Alderman Bill Edmond said.

By now, the mayor has made several public attempts to clarify that the initiative would use federal money, and not city funds. He says he is disappointed in the city council for bringing it onto the agenda.

“Some of these folks just need to read a little bit more and better understand what’s going on,” Mayor Gluba said. “I cannot spend city money. They know that, but if this makes them feel good, and responds to their right-wing base, in some cases, have at it. I’m a big boy, I’ve been around politics all my life, and I’ll survive.”

Although the city is not involved, certain aldermen are holding onto their strong feelings about the issue.

“I will still stand in front of the buses if i have to,” Alderman Edmond said.